At the end of his meeting with Justin Trudeau, François Legault displayed great optimism, saying he was “more confident” in relation to the increase in federal health funding.
Because the federal government would now speak of “data sharing” rather than “conditions”, François Legault said he was reassured. “We are moving in the right direction,” he said.
We must be saying the same thing in Ottawa. Things are moving in the right direction, that of imposing conditions. Moreover, the Premier of Quebec himself admitted knowing that the federal government is having discussions with the governments of Ontario and the Atlantic provinces on health transfers. This says a lot about the solidity of the common front of the provinces.
Earlier this week, Justin Trudeau was clear in a year-end interview with CBC’s Rosemary Barton. He has no intention of pumping money into a “broken system”. No additional financing without conditions. His Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, like a licensed stage manager, also broke sugar on “the” health system affected by the “disease of silos”, as if gargling clichés could cure the stupid.
The Quebec health care system has been plagued by multiple problems for a long time, which the pandemic has only made worse. But what is new is that the health care systems of provinces like Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, which were once exemplary, at least if we compared them with that of Quebec, are experiencing failures. Due to respiratory infections, their children’s hospitals are overwhelmed, but also other general hospitals, struggling with cases of COVID-19 and influenza. Although the situation is even more critical in Quebec, these networks are facing shortages of caregivers.
Obviously, the Trudeau government wouldn’t think of acknowledging that one of the causes of this lack of capacity in the health networks, in Ontario for example, is its excessive immigration policy. Our neighbor welcomed nearly 200,000 immigrants in 2021, as well as hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and foreign students, a performance set to be repeated year after year. Like everyone else, these newcomers need health services. Added to this is the effect of the aging of the population. After that, Doug Ford wonders why his province is short of healthcare workers.
Justin Trudeau is right to say that if he paid the provinces the amounts they are claiming, “there is no guarantee that people would wait any shorter in hospitals”. In the short term, this is strictly true. In Quebec, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, does not lack the money to hire nurses. The problem is that the posted positions are not filled, for lack of candidates.
The reform undertaken by Mr. Dubé is based on the collection of data, their computerization and the transmission of best practices. We will see how the Trudeau government, which professes the same general objectives, will show its willingness to interfere.
Between the two Prime Ministers, there was obviously a question of immigration and the influx of asylum seekers through Roxham Road. The case of the Salvadorans Letitia Cruz and Raul, her son, illustrates the aberrant situations to which the Roxham road leads, which the Trudeau government has erected into a system. These asylum seekers have been in Quebec for four years. They are established in Chicoutimi, where they work and where they learned French. Recently, the federal authorities decided: they are not real refugees. So they received a deportation notice and they have to leave Canada. Conservative MP Richard Martel, from the federal riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, refused to help them. The Bloc MP for the neighboring riding, Mario Simard, had to plead their case with the office of federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, and the deportation notice was revoked. This long process leading to a necessarily inhumane decision is unacceptable.
In terms of immigration, a subject that is nevertheless of existential importance for the Quebec nation, François Legault was satisfied with the “good intentions” he perceived in Justin Trudeau. The Premier of Quebec is now “awaiting action”. He may be waiting a long time.
As he begins his second term, François Legault has clearly chosen to be conciliatory and content with what the federal system has in store for Quebec. Some will criticize him for giving up, others will say that he is rather in tune with our national indolence.